Ulster’s Folk Wonders

Marie-Louise Muir discovers the beauty of everyday objects, found at homes in Northern Ireland at the turn of the 20th century.

These include harnen stands, used to toast oatcakes in front of an open fire, and one of the finest examples of crazy patchwork quilts seen in any British museum. The enthusiasm of specialist curators and the people who demonstrate crafts at the museum, including metalwork, basket making and linen weaving, bring an extraordinary collection to life.

Marie-Louise discovers that this rich archive of buildings, photographs, languages, crafts and customs would not exist without the vision of EE Evans, a Welsh geographer, writer and acclaimed folklorist who spent his life in Northern Ireland. Professor Evans’s work became one of the cornerstones of the museum, which opened in 1964, and he inspired an army of volunteers to go out and record the lives of a fast-disappearing rural community.

The museum’s illustrated notebooks are one of the many behind-the-scenes treasures that Marie-Louise discovers on this very special tour.

This much-loved local museum aims to look not at the history of the battlefield but at the history of the ploughed field, asking visitors today to reflect on the shared heritage and history of Northern Ireland.